Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish the joint committee a good afternoon and thank the members for the invitation to update them on the progress of the implementation of the landing obligation and to discuss the submission from the fleet sub-segmentation lobby group on abolishing the sub-segmentation of tonnage and kilowatts for the Irish fleet. I will begin by addressing the issue of fleet segmentation.

The management of fishing fleets using vessel capacity in terms of vessel volume, which is measured in gross tonnes, and engine power, which is measured in kilowatts, was introduced in the early 1990s and is a cornerstone of the Common Fisheries Policy.

It was introduced in the early 1990s. Capacity limits, known as fleet ceilings, are set at EU level for all member states. To ensure the fleet ceiling is not exceeded, member states must manage their fleets in such a way that the entry of new capacity into the fleet is balanced by previous withdrawal of at least the same amount of capacity. This is known as the entry-exit regime.

The Irish fishing fleet has been divided into segments since the early 1990s. The fleet is divided into five segments, in accordance with Ministerial Policy Directive 2 of 2003, as amended. The five segments are refrigerated seawater, RSW, pelagic vessels, polyvalent, beam trawler, specific and aquaculture. The specific segment is divided into two sub-segments, namely, scallop and general sub-segment. The polyvalent segment is divided into four sub-segments, namely, potting, scallop, vessel under 18 m in length overall and vessels greater than or equal to 18 m in length overall. The transfer of capacity between segments and sub-segments is not permitted. For vessels to qualify for mackerel and-or herring authorisation, all of the capacity used to license the vessel must have the required track record as stipulated under the individual mackerel and herring fleet policies.

It is important to note fishing capacity is privately owned and is traded independently of the Department and the licensing authority for sea fishing boats. The current fleet policy has been put in place over many years. The request for a change in licensing policy involving the removal or amalgamation of segments or sub-segments would have a substantial impact on the Irish fishing fleet. Potentially, such changes could have impacts on access to fishing resources and the management of quotas. There are many diverse views in the fishing industry and these often conflict. It is important, therefore, that views such as those proposed are debated widely in the industry. The objective is to achieve the maximum possible level of agreement and support in the industry for any proposed changes sought.

The Fisheries (Amendment) Act 2003 transferred the function of sea fishing boat licensing to the licensing authority for sea fishing boats and provides the licensing authority is independent from the Minister in the exercise of its functions. As Minister, I have responsibility for policy on sea fishing boat licensing and may use policy directives in this regard. However, under the 2003 Act I am precluded from getting involved in individual cases or a group of cases with which the licensing authority is or may be concerned. For this reason, it is preferable that proposals for changes to licensing policy are made through the recognised representative structure of producer organisations. In this way, a business case for change to the licensing policy would be fully examined, including positive and negative consequences for operators with divergent fishing activities and covering large and small operations. I encourage the group of vessel owners in this instance to engage with the producer organisations so any proposed changes can be brought forward with a full understanding of the views throughout the industry.

Given the potential impact of changes to licensing policy, any amendments I might consider bringing forward would be subject to a public consultation with stakeholders. We are happy to look at changes but we want to ensure we have a full reflection of the industry perspective, as opposed to one group of stakeholders coming forward with a specific proposal about which many others may have concerns or comments or may decide to support. Any change we make in what is a very sensitive area, because whenever one segment gains another segment tends to lose, needs to go through a process, and preferably needs to come through the producer organisations which are the official representative bodies of fishermen and boats. We can answer any questions members may have on this.

With regard to the landing obligation, or the discard ban as many people call it, the recent regional agreement brokered by Ireland on extending the landing obligation to a number of important whitefish stocks brings us another step closer to eliminating the wasteful and unsustainable practice of discarding.

Everyone is against that, first and foremost, fishermen.

The reform introduced a practical and phased discards policy. The first part of the landing obligation, the ban on discarding pelagic stocks, such as herring and mackerel, came into effect from 1 January 2015. The landing obligation will be extended to certain demersal stocks - whitefish and prawns - from 1 January 2016 and will be fully phased in by 1 January 2019. The phasing in period will allow fishermen time to adjust and implement changes that will allow for the avoidance of unwanted catches.

A major element of the new CFP is the introduction of regionalisation. This gives member states in a region, working together, greater power to make decisions on the management of their own fish stocks and moves away from the former one-size-fits-all approach, which was dictated by the Commission. It also underscores the importance of meaningful input from stakeholders, requiring that member states consult with the relevant advisory councils, comprising stakeholders from industry and environmental NGOs. Ireland is a member of the North Western Waters Group along with Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the UK and Spain. The preparation of the discards ban for whitefish species was carried out during the period of Ireland’s chairmanship of the group and I thank my colleagues on both sides of me for doing a good job in getting an agreement across the line. The member states worked closely with the North Western Waters Advisory Council, which involves representatives of the fishing industry and other stakeholders. The council representatives attended and inputted into the meetings of the North Western Waters Group. The entire process was demanding, given the high bar of having to come to a unanimous agreement among six member states. An agreement was finally reached in May on a discard plan for whitefish stocks to take effect from 1 January 2016. The ban on discarding will apply to the prawn fisheries in all waters, the whiting fishery in the Celtic Sea, which is a complex, mixed fishery, the haddock fishery in the Irish Sea and in the north west area, the hake fishery in all areas and the sole fishery in the Celtic Sea from 1 January 2016.

The vessels, which will be subject to the landing obligation in 2016, will be identified on the basis of a combination of gear type and historic landing data. For example, a vessel that had landings in 2013 and 2014 of more than 25% cod, haddock, whiting and saithe combined in its landings in the Celtic Sea will be obliged to land all whiting in 2016. The other species will be phased in over the following three years. Another important element is the inclusion of what are known as deminimis exemptions. What this means is that, in the example I just gave, a vessel obliged to land whiting in the Celtic Sea will still be allowed to discard a small percentage. These deminimis exemptions are only allowed where it is difficult in the short term to dramatically improve selectivity without having an unduly onerous economic effect on the boat concerned.

With regard to setting TACs and quotas for 2016 in December, which is the positive news apart from rebuilding stocks, I will seek a quota uplift for the stocks subject to the landing obligation. This is needed to take account of the situation whereby, in 2016, discarding of these stocks will not be permitted. In other words, we are moving away from a quota allocated on the basis of a landed quota. If somebody had five tonnes of quota and caught seven tonnes of the species, he can only land five tonnes. Historically, he would always have been required to discard the other two tonnes at sea. There was nothing illegal about this because that is the way the policy worked. From now on, fishermen will be given a catch quota, not a landed quota. They will be required to land everything they catch within the flexibility of the rules that apply in respect of deminimis and so on. That should mean that taking existing records relating to discards within specific fisheries into account, there should be an uplift when moving from a landed quota to a catch quota. The Irish industry has been kept fully informed throughout this process through the discards implementation group, chaired by Dr. Noel Cawley.

I established this group to allow the Irish fishing industry to be fully prepared for and engaged in the implementation of the discards ban, which is going to be challenging but which, I believe, is doable. Agreement on the discards plan for 2016 provides the discards implementation group with a clear blueprint to help prepare the industry for the forthcoming changes. I am providing funding support for the fishing industry through the new EU fisheries operational programme, which I am currently progressing, for effective delivery of the new measures. I have made €450,000 available to BIM and the Marine Institute in order that they might undertake a project exploring the potential impact of the landing obligation on commercial fishing activity during the summer months. This project will follow up on the discards simulation trials conducted last autumn.

I firmly believe that the biggest challenge will be to develop and implement improvements in selectivity and to develop other means to enable fishermen to avoid juvenile fish or unwanted catches. The national discards implementation group is prioritising this work, as indeed are the producer organisations. Our fishermen, working with BIM and the Marine Institute, are best placed to find better ways of fishing. I will strongly support this work through the new fisheries operational programme and I am confident that we are moving forward into an era in which healthy fish stocks, fished sustainably, will be the norm. The latter will give assurances of economic stability and profitability to our fishing industry and dependent coastal communities.

In the event that anyone is in any doubt as to the extent of the discards problem, it is important that I place some facts on the record in order to highlight the challenge we are facing and to explain why we are making the changes I have outlined. Among the annual catch of 6,556 tonnes of Celtic Sea haddock, we are currently discarding 2,227 tonnes. This represents a discard rate of 49%. Of the average annual catch of 6,633 tonnes of Celtic Sea whiting, we are currently discarding 1,669 tonnes, or 25%. The discard rate for Celtic Sea plaice is 57%. In the context of Irish Sea haddock, it is 37%, for Irish Sea whiting, it is 81%, and for Irish Sea plaice it is 66%. The discard rate for nephrops is 29%. What we want to do is ensure that the fish we catch and kill are fish that will actually be sold, that fishermen will obtain a commercial return and that stocks will not be damaged as a result of fish being caught and killed at sea and then discarded, or thrown back into the water, because the fishermen involved do not have quotas to land them on the shore. This is the biggest challenge in the context of the Common Fisheries Policy. We are moving towards the use of maximum sustainable yield, MSY, which is a more scientific calculation for maximising fish catches commercially while simultaneously protecting fish stocks. We have obtained agreement in terms of regional decision making, which is extremely important, but the big change for both the public and the fishing industry as regards the changes in approach, gear, selectivity, targeting, etc., will be that which relates to the obligation to land. We will invest a great deal of money, time, resources, effort and support into assisting the industry in this regard.

What I have outlined means that in five, ten or 15 years we will still have a very strong and growing fishing industry, because we will have healthier stocks and quotas that will hopefully be growing as a result. I am not pretending that introducing an obligation to land or banning discards will not be challenging. It will be, but we can do it in a way that makes commercial sense for fishermen as well as making environmental sense in the context of the sustainability of fish stocks. That is the big challenge to be faced and the big ambition behind the new Common Fisheries Policy. In broad terms, what is being done has been broadly welcomed by NGOs and also within the industry.